Mamata Holds Protest Against SIR In Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday held a protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

In a post on X, Trinamool Congress said “Bangla-Birodhi” BJP is manipulating the democratic process through “silent invisbile rigging”.

“Smt. @MamataOfficial has taken her place at the dharna mancha in Dharmatala, standing shoulder to shoulder with the people whose voices @BJP4India and its puppet @ECISVEEP are desperate to erase. Every time a handful of Zamindars rear their ugly heads to trample on the rights and dignity of ordinary citizens, Bengal answers with the thunder of millions rising together to resist their arrogance and despotism. Bangla-Birodhi BJP believed they could bend Bengal to their will by deleting genuine voters and manipulating the democratic process through their SILENT INVISIBLE RIGGING,” the party wrote on X.

“What they got instead was the fierce, unyielding defiance of a people who refuse to bow, refuse to be silenced, and refuse to let their democracy be stolen,” it added.

Earlier, the CM had criticised the process, claiming that “deeply flawed SIR” is marking living people “dead”, stating that the stories she heard were heartbreaking on February 4.

“Today, at Banga Bhawan in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri, I met victims of the deeply flawed SIR process, families who have lost loved ones and citizens who, despite being alive, have been falsely marked ‘dead’ and erased from the electoral rolls. Their testimonies were heartbreaking. In a democracy, to inflict such suffering on the people is not just tragic; it is unconscionable,” the post said.

Banerjee described the exercise as a “reckless and inhumane” assault on democracy that has selectively targeted the people of Bengal, claiming that many people, including senior citizens, migrant workers, and daily wage earners, have seen their lives thrown into “chaos” by the process.

A central point of Banerjee’s grievance was the deployment of an “unprecedented number of micro-observers” in West Bengal.

“Women, senior citizens, migrant workers, daily wage earners, and patients – entire lives have been thrown into chaos by this reckless and inhumane exercise. What is even more alarming is that, without any statutory authority and in violation of the Representation of the People Act, an unprecedented number of micro-observers have been deployed in Bengal to usurp the powers of EROs and AROs,” she wrote on X.

Earlier, Banerjee alleged that she was humiliated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during their meeting on Monday. ECI sources said that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar responded to the queries of CM Mamata Banerjee, who led the party delegation to EC, and explained to them that the rule of law shall prevail in the SIR process and anybody taking the law into their own hands shall be dealt with strictly as per rules. (ANI)